St. Jerome's Laneway Festival@ Cultural Centre,Northbridge, Perth (12/2/11)

Mon 14th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Let’s face it, any indie-hipster child worth their wing-back ray bans, Dave Hosking moustache, bright red lipstick, brimmed hats and ankle socks, was at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival. Set amongst the streets of Northbridge in between Perth art gallery, museum and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, the music of up and coming local talent, and international alternative bands filled the city air. With disco balls hung in the trees, stages hidden down streets and steps, the Fringe World circus tent stage with saloon bar inside, silent disco pumping, pianos laying around waiting to be played and video games projected onto walls; there was enough to be constantly entertained.

On the Francis St. stage Stornoway provided some quality British folk rock and the crowd magnetised toward the stage dancing with anticipation for the festival in the afternoon sun.

The Antlers next-door bestowed a very different atmosphere with their wistfully enchanting sound. The three-piece, Brooklyn-born band sang out with haunting vocals, and profound lyrics. Kettering set the tone and left the crowd with goose bumps from the emotions trapped in the song. Their music often transitioned from a soft melodic pace to a spine tingling journey through their striking and extensive instrumentals.

The Holidays set a light-hearted atmosphere as festival goers wandered around exploring what was on offer and eyeing one another’s festival attire. 6am was a wake up call to listen to the band, and the island breezy, summer lazing feel of Post Paradise created a chilled vibe around the Museum stage.

American four-piece girl band, Warpaint who have been shaking up the music scene lately filled the stage with their whimsical yet powerful presence. Their music is clearly inspired by the punk era, but embraces the popular alternative sound of eerie echoey vocals. The mixture of past and present created striking imagery and those who weren’t already fans went away converted.

The enigmatic Beach House poignantly convey emotions of life, love and questioning everything in between. They performed their album Teen Dream consisting of arbitrary and beautifully bizarre songs such as Norway and Zebra. While Beach House may not be one of a kind; inviting, as they do, comparisons to the likes of Vampire Weekend, they bring their own style, their own experiences and their own personalities to the genre, making very personal songs to which the Laneway audience clearly connected.

Cloud Control created a lively scene, as fans danced freely to their folky music. The band that seems so culturally European originates from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. As crowds spilled out from the other stages, Cloud Control’s popular songs There’s Nothing in the Water We Can’t Fight, and Gold Canary made them all stop to dance, creating a joyous atmosphere. The energy surrounding their songs is so positive and combined with sunshine it can’t fail to make people happier.

Local Natives were a massive hit of the day, highly anticipated and popular, their show went off as the crowd went crazy for their songs. Their cover of Talking Heads’ Warning Signs was surprising, but a great choice as the crowd fell for it. During Sun Hands, the members of Cloud Control piled on stage to join in the dance party showing the support between the bands touring together during Laneway.

Two Door Cinema Club proved to have a massive Perth fan base as every word they sang out was being cried in unison from the crowd. Their music created an amazing liveliness and joie de vivre (thankyou hipsters). Undercover Martyn went off, as the crowd jumped wildly proving that it’s just as easy to dance around to indie music with storytelling lyrics. The Irish trio gave a great performance for their dedicated fans and were clearly the most mainstream band at the festival.

Experimental, out of this world, like no other, bizarre Yeasayer lit up the night with neon, synths, and cowbells. Their music spanned the nineties to futuristic space-time. The creativeness of their music allowed the audience to get creative with their dancing; it was one of the most interesting shows from the performance of the versatile band and the reaction of the crowd. Yeasayer were a fantastic act to see perform live.

Foals provided a much-needed break between lively dance acts with their melodic tunes pulsating round the festival giving the crowd the chance to kick back and relax and listen to the band’s Total Life Forever. The build up to Spanish Sahara was intense as more people recognised the song and knew the climax that would eventuate. People passing by were drawn to their hypnotic and charming music.

Cut Copy made a great entry through the massive door at the front of the stage that later on transformed into a projector of images conveying a sense of their songs’ meaning. The band looked very sharp and snazzy in style echoed by their tight, neat music. While mostly performing songs off their new album Zonoscope, they also played a very familiar Lights and Music. The crowd went ecstatic and seemed to shake Perth’s centre. Although tired from the long day the crowd danced through the act’s performance and lengthy instrumental number. Cut Copy didn’t just play their music they were clearly putting in the effort and gave a fantastic live performance.

Laneway provided Perth with a diverse array of bands, although the timetable was so packed it was impossible to see all of the bands worth seeing, which was the only down point of the day. The bands seemed to have enjoyed touring together and shared that sense of friendship and support.